Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to Ministry of Justice statistics on the condition of prisons, said:

“On a day when Chris Grayling is throwing around desperate smears about the Labour Party, the Tories appear to be trying to use this as a smokescreen to hide how bad things have got in our prisons thanks to them.

“With the Conservative’s handling of the justice system increasingly mired in chaos, Chris Grayling should be spending his time getting grip of his failing department rather than using every trick in the book to try and distract people away from how bad things have got on their watch.

“Every day that goes by reinforces the truth about the Tories: they’re completely out of touch with no answers to the challenges facing Britain.”

• The Safety in Custody Statistics England & Wales Update to March 2014 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-statistics-quarterly-update-to-march-2014) show that in the year up to March 2014:
o Deaths in custody up from 181 to 225 (up 24% in a year)
o Suicides up from 52 to 88 (up 69% in a year)
o Self-harm (male prisons) up from 16,399 to 17,474 (up 6.6% in a year) and up 3,694 (27%) since March 2010
o Assaults (male prisons) up from 13,573 to 14,491 (up 6.8% in a year)
o Serious assaults (male prisons) up from 1,277 to 1,661 (up 30% in a year)
o Assaults on staff (male prisons) up from 2,787 to 3,201 (up 14.9%)
o Hospital attendances (male) up from 1,407 to 1,527 (up 8.5% in a year) – total number of hospital attendances (1,636) is a record high

• The Prisons Rating Data (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/338952/prison-annual-performance-ratings-13-14.pdf) show that in 2013/14:
o 28 prisons (19%) have been rated 2 – “of concern”, with HM Prison Brinsford rated 1 – “of serious concern”. This is a doubling of the number of prisons rated “of concern” in the space of 12 months.

• The NOMS Annual Report 2013/14 (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/338945/mi-addendum.pdf) shows that:
o The number of prisoners absconding rose 10% in a year (from 204 in 2012/13 to 225 in 2013/14)